Editorial Team

Editors

Sidney Littlefield Kasfir
Professor Emerita of African Art History at Emory University in Atlanta. She has written or edited five books, and was a visiting Fulbright professor at Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts, Makerere University in 2012 and at the Dept of Fine Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 2016.

George Kyeyune
Associate Professor in Fine Arts at Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts, Makerere University teaching and practicing sculpture and art history. He was a Fulbright Fellow in 2013, won the Commonwealth Fellowship Award in 2014, and is currently rewriting histories of contemporary African art focusing on German art collectors supported by the Volkswagen Foundation.

Angelo Kakande
An ACLS Fellow and NGAAII Fellow, Kakande is a graduate of Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda and University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He teaches studio art and art history at Makerere University. He is an artist (ceramist and painter), art historian (with interest in contemporary African art) and a lawyer (with interest in human rights law).

Margaret Nagawa (Editor in Chief)
An artist-curator interested in conditions surrounding artists’ practice, Nagawa employs collaborative approaches in her curatorial and educational work. She was Chair of the Uganda Artists Association; taught at the Makerere Art School; curated by committee at the Makerere Art Gallery; and co-curated the Uganda section of Visionary Africa – Art at Work.

Web Interface and Design

Jantien Zuurbier
Jantien currently works with Afriart Gallery and is co-founder and director of the Design Hub Kampala, a flexible workspace for creatives, start-ups and freelancers in Kampala. She is a member of the board of Kampala Art Trust and has been part of the organising team of both editions of the Kampala Art Biennale.

Advisory Board

Ruth Simbao
Ruth Simbao is Professor of Art History and Visual Culture in the Fine Art Department at Rhodes University, South Africa; the National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa, and the founder of the Mellon-funded programme, Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa.

Simon Njami
Writer and independent curator based in Paris, France. He was the Artistic Director of the 2016 Dak’Art Biennale; workshop leader of AtWork itinerant project in partnership with Lettera27 Foundation and Moleskine with the Kampala Chapter 03 in 2015; and director of the Pan African Master Classes in Photography in collaboration with Goethe Institute.

Carol Magee
Associate Professor in the Art Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, specializing in African contemporary art with an emphasis on photography

Ronex Ahimbisibwe
Artist based in Kampala, Uganda with past exhibitions in Africa, Europe, and USA. He was in residency at Iwalewahaus in Beyreuth, Germany; winner of the KLA ART 012 International Award; and founder of digital FB image archive Art Uganda .

Mulugeta Gebrekidan
A photography, video, and performance artist based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has been in residency in Kampala, Kinshasa, Vienna, and Amherst, VA; and taken part in exhibitions and workshops in Africa, Europe, and the USA including the 2010 Dak’Art Biennale, and KLA ART 014: Kampala Contemporary Art Festival where he won the KLA ART 014 Innovation Award.

Professor Okpan K. Oyeoku
Professor Okpan K. Oyeoku is a professor of Fine & Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He has many years of research and teaching experience and promotes international collaboration. Presently he is the editor of CPAN Journal of Ceramics published annually by the Craft Potters Association of Nigeria. He serves a on the Editorial Board of several international journals and he has published widely in local and international journals.

Former Editor (2014 – 2016): Dominic Muwanguzi
Our former editor Dominic has been one of our regular authors from the time Startjournal went online in 2010. He has also written critiques for The New Vision, Daily Monitor and The Independent Magazine.

Former Editor (2013 – 2014): Kara Blackmore
Kara Blackmore is an anthropologist, writer and museum curator who is inspired by the interplay between arts and culture in East Africa. When she is not editing startjournal.org she is preparing exhibitions or writing poetry.

Former Editor-in-Chief (2010-2013): Thomas Bjørnskau
Thomas coordinated Start Journal as it made its way onto the web. He is a published writer with over a decade of experience in the field of interactive communications. Thomas has lived in Kampala, Hong Kong, Beijing and Vienna. Now based in Olso, he worked as the Editor-in-Chief of Start Journal from November 2010 to July 2013.

Pages

WELCOME TO START JOURNAL!

We at START believe that the creative efforts of Ugandans— be they painters, musicians or dancers—play a key role in our country’s past and future. We aim to provide a community of ideas for these artists. We welcome your input and contributions.
Enjoy!

The winners of the Uganda Press Photo Awards were announced at a ceremony held at The Square on Thursday, October 26, and the winners' exhibition was launched at the same occasion. The exhibition is now open to the public, free of charge, at the Square and runs until November 26. The post The Winner of […]

During the Opening performance of ChomboTrope , the Jitta collective by Kefa Oiro and Stephanie Thiersch yesterday at OneTen on Seventh, it was clear that they had used their creation process to deliver a strong sense of agency with shared ownership and ‘authenticity'. The post “Do Not Touch My Hair” – A performance Review of Chombotrope appeared first […]

It is almost a year since the rebirth of Start journal. Artists write about their work and that of other artists. Art historians theorise and contextualise art, locating the social and political circumstances out of which it arises. Exhibition reviews are invaluable, as are readers’ comments both digitally on the journal pages and in live […]

Canon should be described as an artist before a photographer. From both his art and being in his company it is undeniable that he is one of the most uncompromising people I have ever met. Attempting to present Canon has proven to be the most challenging part of a longer study on Kampala’s urban photographers […]

"Why should an artist live and die as a pauper? Why would an artist be harshly criticized for making a living out of their gift? Why should an artist want to shift the laws of living? Why should artists not stand tall and say they want to be successful and rich?" These are the questions […]

By Martha Kazungu “Ubuntu is the missing link in the arts here in Uganda, the reason we are growing too slow! Both visual and performing arts. Some of us can’t even share an art brush.” – Derrick Komakech, Ugandan artist A photo showing the interior of the “Our Thing” installation by Nikissi Serumago and Darlene Komukama. […]